Autographic register



April 21, 1959 A. BECKER 2,333,210

' AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER Filed May 17, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1o'oooooioooooooo IN VEN TOR.

A T ram/75.

April 21, 1959 A. BECKER 2,383,210

AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER Filed May 17, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 SPRING PRESSUREI a I I 3'0 26 IZQ54 24 29 BY I INVENTOfi. ZMZLWZW ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER .AloysiusBecker, Hamilton,Ohio, assignor to Paul Benninghofen and F. B. Diesbach, Hamilton,trustees Application May 17, 1956, Serial No. 585,541

1 Claim. (Cl. 282-16) Ohio, as

This inventionrelates to autographic registers of the .type which employpin wheels to feed the sets of mani- =fol ding stationery, thisstationery having feed apertures arranged in lines along the marginsinto which the pins of feed wheelsengage.

7 In mycopending patent applications Serial Nos. 404,-

.547and 404,56l, both filed January 18, 1954, now U.S. :PatentfNo.2,809,830 and No. 2,793,855 respectively. I .have disclosed anautographic register which employs a apair of feed disksand a griproller to advance sets of manifolding stationery of a dififerent type.Inthe machinedisclosed the stationery is engaged between the :griproller which contacts the upper surface, andthe ..-disks which contactthe under surface. The roller and disks are driven by means .such as ahand crank and they serve to advance'the stationery and. they :alsocooperatein a generalway to align the superimposed forms in the sets ofstationery by virtue of their relationship zto pairs of apertures whichare located between adjacent sets of forms. One of the advantages of theautographic :register disclosedin the copending applications is that itiscapable of advancing forms of various lengths without making anymodifications or changes in the feeding .and aligning mechanism.

The pin wheel type of feed of this application is adapted 1. toube'installedin the autographic register disclosed in :the applicationswithout substantial changes being made 'inthe general overallconstruction. Hence one of the- :objectives ofthe invention isto providepin wheel type of .feed mechanism for-a register of the type disclosedin 'IInY. .copending patent applications.

.Animportant objective: ofthe invention is to provide .a feed mechanismwhich may be employed in an autowgraphic register utilizing mauifoldingforms in which pwriting :is-transferred from one form towanother in a-set of superimposednforms without the'use of conventional carbon:paper. lnsuchna transfer the writingpres- "sureuof apenc'il ora*ballupoint'pen, for example, brings :JlfhfiibflCkfiOf the. top sheetinto intimatecontact with the upper surface of the second sheet, andthus so on down through all of thflfOIlIlSwlIllhGSEt. The back of the.:uppermost sheet is coatedwithtafilm which reacts chemixcally with areceptivecoating provided on the upper face :on'the' second'sheet. Thereaction results in a change .of color in: the coating on theisecondsheet below the 'places where writing pressure isnbrought to bear on thetop sheet so that :thEWOIClS .andfigures written: on the rtop-sheet aretransferred onto the second sheet and so lengths.

adapted: to feed manifolding forms without exerting any pressure on theforms in the areas thereon in which writing or figures are to appear.

A further objective is to provide an autographicregister of the type setforth in which a clamp device is provided to securely lock the formsonto the writing platen "at the end of each feeding operation so thatthe superimposed forms cannot shift with respect to one-another whilethey are being written upon.

Afurther objective of the invention is to provide -a pin wheel type ofautographic register in whichforms of varying lengths can beaccommodated by making only a slight change in the feed mechanism.

In substance therefore, the feeding mechanism ofthis invention adaptsaregister of thetype disclosed in my vcopending patent applications to apin wheel type of feed; it exerts no pressure onthe forms duringfeeding, which would cause marks orsmudges; and by making only a minorchange it adapts the register to forms of various lengths so that therequirements of different users of the autographic register, insofar asform length is concerned, may be met with little difiiculty andwithoutadding cost.

.Other objectives ofthe invention will be readily--apparent'to thoseskilled in the art from the following detailed description of thedrawings in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan view showing -the'fee'd mechanism of thisinvention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary crosssectional view taken on the line 2-2 of.Figure 1.

.Figure .3 is a:fragmentary cross sectional view taken on the line 33 ofFigure 2.

Figure 4 isa diagrammatic view showing =a-portion .only of the feedmechanism during an advance/in the Lfeeding part of a cycle ofoperation.

I Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 showing the feeding' mechanismat rest at the end of an advancing cycle.

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic viewillustrating the change which may be madein the feed mechanism in order-to accommodate the register :to manifoldforms of different lnasmuchasthe feed mechanism of this inv ention isadapted to fit into. a register of the type showmin co-.pending-patent.applications to which reference has been made, it is notbelieved necessary to gointo the "details ofthoserparts which are notrelated directly to' the invention. :Inrgeneral, however, the feedrnechanism is .designedlto be used. in conjunction with :a-strip ofmanifoldingforms=l0rwhich moves across a writing platen .11,the-m'anifolding forms being of the type which have For the purposes ofthis:disclosure, it isbelieved suflicientto state "that in "the-use ofsuch paper in an autographic register no :PIGSSUI'G cannbekbrought' tobear upon the superimposed formsin a set duringthe feeding operation.

;The: present'feed mechanism is mounted betweemtwo wframe membersconstituted'by a pair of upright plates -14.-14 which. are mounted.inside :of 1 the w-autog'raphic registercasing. These twoplatesareflanged atthe -botqtom as at15" so that they'can bexfastened to the baseof the register. Other means of mounting the feed mechanism may beemployed ifdesired. Thereiare two sh'afts whichextend acrosstheregister: from one of the upright platesfixl4 to theother. The first ofthese -isa -feed:'shaft .161 This .shaftcarries :two: xpin wheels 17 iwhich w e keyed directly to the shaft by means such as cross pins. Italso carries a pair of cam wheels 18, but they do not rotate with theshaft, the shaft merely providing a journal for them. The other shaftwhich extends from one upright 14 to the other is acrank shaft 19. Thisshaft is slightly below shaft 16 and spaced from it in the direction ofoncoming forms. Shaft 19 is rotated once in each cycle of the registerby means of a hand crank 20 which is located at the left side of theregister outside of the case. In place of the hand crank a one cycletype of motor drive maybe employed if desired.

There is a third member which extends crosswise of the machine, thisbeing a hold-down bar 21 which is identical to the grip roller of thecopending patent applications, being mounted in an identical way, butbeing arranged to be shifted into an elevated position where it is clearof the upper surface of the manifold forms being advanced through themachines during the feed cycle. The hold-down bar becomes functionalonly at the end of a complete cycle of the crank 20 when it is loweredand held down in form gripping position by means of one or more springsof the type shown at 20A in Figure 3 and illustrated diagrammaticalyonly in Figures 4 and 5. In this gripping or clamping function of thehold-down bar 21 it performs the same function in the present feedmechanism that it does in the register of the copending applications.The bar is actuated by the two cam wheels 18. These wheels engage thebar adjacent to its opposite ends where rotatable sleeves 22 areprovided so that the cams may roll upon them. Each cam has an arcuateindentation 23 cut into its outer circumference, which indentationprovides a relief for the underside of the rotatable sleeve 22 in eachcase to permit the clamp bar to be pulled down into clamping position.At any other time when the indentations are out of line with the sleeverollers, the hold-down bar is cammed up or raised to a point where itclears the forms.

This condition is shown in Figure 4. The clamped position of the bar 21is shown in Figure 5. Clamping of the bar 21 takes place at the end ofeach complete feeding cycle which is the home position of the crank 20.The cam wheels therefore must rotate at a ratio of 1 to 1 with respectto the crank. This is accomplished by means of a gear 24 which is pinnedto the crank shaft 19 and which is in mesh with a gear 25 secured to theside of the cam wheel, by means of a pin, so as to turn with it. Thegears 24 and 25 are identical in size to provide the 1 to 1 ratio.

If manifolding forms of one particular length were to be used in theautographic register the pin Wheels could also rotate at a 1 to 1 ratiowith respect to the crank. As a practical matter the forms which must befed through the register vary considerably in length from one user tothe next, the specific length in each case being dependent upon thenumber of lines desired in the forms and other factors. Hence, one ofthe problems in the construction of the present feed mechanism is toprovide a means of varying the ratio between the pin wheels and thecrank to accommodate forms of different lengths while maintaining aconstant 1 to 1 ratio between the cams and the crank. The answer to theproblem is in the provision of a changeable gear ratio between the crankand the shaft 16 which does not affect the 1 to 1 ratio between thecrank and the earns 18. The cams, being freely rotatably journalled uponthe feed shaft 16, permit the latter shaft to be turned at any desiredratio, and thus, the pin wheels may be rotated to any exent desiredduring one cycle of the feeding operation. The crank shaft in thepresent case has a gear 26 keyed to it which is located immediatelyinside of the upright plate 14. This gear is in mesh with an idler 27which is in turn in mesh with a gear 28 pinned to the outer end of feedshaft 16. Hence, the turning ratio of the crank relative to the feedshaft is directly dependent upon the ratio between the gears 26 and 28.Thus,

by changing either one or both of these two gears, the pin wheels can berotated in one cycle to any extent desired so that long forms or shortforms may be employed in the machine.

To facilitate changes in the ratios of gears 26 and 28 the idler gear 27which is in between them is rotatably mounted on the shank of a journalbolt 29 which is engaged in an 'arcuate slot 30 through the upright wall14. The are 30 may be formed in several ways. In the present instance,it is centered upon the axis of feed shaft 16 which is also the centerof gear 28. In this way the gear 26 can 'be provided in different sizesand with the gear 27 still in mesh with gear 28, the idler gear may beswung into a new position for meshing with a gear 26 of different size.If it is desirable to change gear 28 and not gear 26 the are may becentered upon the longitudinal axis of the crank shaft 19 which is alsothe center of rotation of gear 26. In addition, a combination of bothtype slots may be employed in which case either one or both of the twogears 26 and 28 may be changed.

Following conventional practices a pawl 31 which may be pivotallymounted upon the upright wall 14 is engaged with the gear 28 so as toprevent the crank from being inadvertently turned in the wrongdirection. Also following conventional practices the elements of thefeed mechanism shown in Figures 4 and 5 are duplicatedat the oppositesides of the autographic register machine. Also as described incopending patent application Serial No. 404,547, the clamp bar 21 may beswung up into an out of the way position to facilitate the loading ofthe register by pulling upon a finger tab 32.

Assuming that the register is loaded and that the holddown bar is downinto the form clamping position of Figure 5, the pins on the two feedwheels extend up through the holes in the forms and into annular reliefgrooves 3333 which are provided adjacent to the opposite ends of thegrip bar. The instant that the crank is turned the two cam wheels 1818are rotated to raise the clamp bar out of the indentations 2323 so thatthe forms are free to be moved 'by the pin wheels. Since the two camwheels are linked to the crank so that they rotate at a 1 to 1 ratiowith respect to it, the feeding continues until the crank moves intohome position which again bring the notches 23 into position below thehold-down bar 21 so that it drops down under the action of the springsto hold the forms securely in place. During this feeding operation thepin wheels are rotated through a number of degrees depending upon theratio between gears 26 and 28. If the ratio between these two gears is 2to 1, for example, the pin wheels may rotate twice. On the other hand,if the ratio is 1 to 2 the pin wheels may revolve only /2 of a turn.Selecting other ratios obviously make is possible to accommodate formsof any desired length. It will be noted, however, that at no time duringthe feeding operation is there anything in contact with the forms tocause smudging.

Having described my invention, I claim:

An autographic register comprising a writing platen, a feed shaft, meansrotatably iournalling said feed shaft transversely of the register belowthe platen, a crank shaft, means rotatably journalling said crank shaftparallel to the feed shaft below the platen, a hold-down rollerextending across the top of the platen parallel to and directly abovethe feed shaft, spring means urging said roller down into clampingrelation with the platen, a pair of pin wheels keyed to the feed shaftin spaced relation to rotate together with the feed shaft, a pair of camwheels, each cam wheel of the pair being freely rotatably journalledupon the feed shaft adjacent to, and to the outside of a pin wheel torotate independently of the pin wheel, the cam wheels being of a size tocontact the hold-down roller and prevent it from moving down into saidclamping relation, each cam wheel having an indentation in its .outerperiphery configurated to receive the hold-down roller to permit theroller to move down into said clamping relation with the platen when thecam wheels are rotated into positions to present the indentations to thehold-down roller, gear drive means interconnecting the crank shaft andthe cam wheels to drive the cam wheels in the ratio of one to one withrespect to the crank shaft, whereby only once in each revolution of thecrank shaft is the hold-down roller permitted to move down into saidclamping relation, additional gear drive means interconnecting the crankshaft and the feed shaft, and the latter named gear drive means beingchangeable to provide drive ratios for the pin wheels which vary withrespect to the one to one ratio existing between the crank shaft and thecam Wheels.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,259,918 Sherman Mar. 19, 1918 1,394,447 Sherman et al Oct. 18, 19211,431,266 Sherman Oct. 10, 1922 1,655,743 Sherman Ian. 10, 1928

